For a Lasting Peace, For a People’s Democracy!
No. 1 (4), Thursday, January 1, 1948

Consolidating the People’s Democracy in Rumania

Georgiu-Dej

Rumania belongs to the group of countries which dropped out of the
imperialist system as a result of World War II and, after taking the
path of building a new people’s democracy is effecting profound
democratic changes with the support of the popular masses.

By advancing along this independent path – the path of a Rumanian
people’s democracy, which is determined by the specific conditions of
the historic development of the country – we are providing the
political and economic preconditions for the reconstruction of Rumania
on new, socialist foundations.

In order to better understand the specific character of our
democratic development it should be said that Rumania made more rapid
progress in the direction of political changes towards a people’s
democracy than she did in the economic sphere.

What the Maniu Trial Revealed

The second half of 1947 brought crushing defeats to the groups
representing the different sections of the reactionary bourgeoisie. The
trial of the traitors in the leadership of the National Peasant Party,
headed by Maniu, dealt a mortal blow to this group, which rallied
around itself all the reactionary-fascist forces. The documents that
fell into the hands of the security organs, and also the testimony of
the accused revealed to public opinion the monstrous plot to provoke
civil war and foreign armed intervention. This plot was prepared not
only in close collaboration with the foreign intelligence service, but
also with certain diplomatic representatives of the imperialist powers.
The notorious Acheson letter to the conspirators, mentioned at the
trial, disclosed that the main concern of the corresponding foreign
State organs was to find the opportune moment for the armed uprising,
prepared by the leadership of the National Peasant Party, to overthrow
the democratic order in Rumania.

During World War II the parties of the big capitalists, linked with
foreign monopoly circles, and the reactionary landlords, represented by
the National Peasant and National Liberal Parties, discredited
themselves by political and economic collaboration. However, by
resorting to demagogic manoeuvres they succeeded for a time in
retaining certain political positions. The Maniu trial showed the
people that betrayal of national interests was an integral part of the
policy of the social strata represented in these parties. The trial
exposed the political bankruptcy of these social strata and completely
discredited them.

Therein lies the main significance of the trial for the internal life of the country.

Another outcome of the trial was the removal of Tatarescu and his
group from the government. The evidence showed that under Tatarescu the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs had become a centre of espionage and
treachery. Many high officials were directly involved in the
conspiracy. Nor was this accidental. For some considerable time it had
been obvious that Tatarescu’s line on the decisive questions of home
and foreign policy ultimately protected the same interests championed
by the so-called “historical parties” – the national peasants and
national liberals. The Tatarescu group held important positions in the
government, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry
of Finance. As a result the democratic parties in the government often
found themselves in the position of the legendary Rumanian architect
Manola who overnight lost everything that he had managed to build in
the course of the day. It was clear that an end had to be put to the
participation of the Tatarescu group in the government, that this was
an essential condition for the unhampered development of Rumania along
the path of a people’s democracy. And so the Tatarescu group of
ministers were removed from government.

The political bankruptcy of the whole of Rumania reaction is
reflected also in the indifference shown by public opinion to the
attempts of the Tatarescu group to keep going. Most indicative, too, is
the disappearance, for lack of readers, of the newspaper “Liberalul”,
organ of Bratianu’s National Liberal Party.

The question of State power is of decisive importance when
determining the nature of any system. What is the character of the
government and of the State power in our country, following the removal
of the Tatarescu group? The vanguard of the working class played a
leading role in the administration of the State even when Tatarescu was
in the government. The resignation of Tatarescu and his group means the
removal of the last representatives of the reactionary bourgeoisie from
the government; it means that the proletariat and its allies no longer
share State power with the representatives of the exploiting classes.
The role of the working class as leader of democratic forces has gained
in importance. The proletarian vanguard, in close alliance with the
peasantry and progressive intelligentsia, is the backbone of the
government. In other words our government today is a government of
workers, peasants and working intelligentsia. Since the removal of the
Tatarescu group the bloc of democratic parties is a bloc representing
the genuine interests of the working people, headed by the party of the
working class, the Communist Party.

For the Creation of a United Workers’ Party

The creation of a united workers’ party in the near future will be a
new factor in consolidating the front of democratic parties. A
nationwide campaign has been launched in preparation for this. The
merger will be formally effected at a congress to be convened in all
probability on January 21, the day when all progressive mankind honours
the memory of the great Lenin.

The programme of the united workers’ party, unanimously adopted at a
joint meeting of the Executive Committees of the Communist Party and
Social Democratic Party, explains the need for political and
organisational unity of the working class in these terms:

“The menace of imperialist intrigues against peace and freedom; the
complicity of the right-wing Socialist with the imperialist circles in
the struggle against democracy and the Land of Socialism; the interests
of the working class which, in a number of countries, and especially in
the countries of the new democracy are confronted with the task of
building Socialism – all this makes it vitally important not only to
strengthen the unity of action of the working class, but also to
establish a united Marxist-Leninist party wherever the objective and
subjective conditions for this exist”.

We are of the opinion that such conditions exist in our country. The
fact that Rumania is one of the countries where political and
organisational unity of the proletariat is in the process of being
realised, is undoubtedly the result of the correct united front policy
pursued by our Party.

The united workers’ party will rally the working class around the
banner of Marxism-Leninism and make it possible to cope with the
historic task of eliminating reformism in the labour movement. “The
ideology of the united workers’ party”, states the aforementioned
programme, “must be the class, Marxist-Leninist ideology of the
proletariat”. The united workers’ party will base its activity on the
teaching of the great leaders of the working class – Marx, Engels,
Lenin, Stalin.

“In its activity the united workers’ party will be guided by high
class principles. It will make no concession in the matter of
principles to other classes or parties. It will fight with
revolutionary irreconcilability against all enemies of the working
class and its ally, the labouring peasantry, and against all hostile
agents in the ranks of the proletariat”.

Under our conditions where the peasantry constitute nearly 80 per
cent of the population, the question of the alliance of industrial
workers and small peasants is one of the central questions of the party
of the working class. The alliance of workers and peasantry (i.e.,
peasants not exploiting the labour of others) is reflected in the close
cooperation between the proletarian vanguard and the Agricultural
Workers’ Front, which is headed by the Chairman of the Council of
Ministers, Dr. P. Groza. The Agricultural Workers’ Front is
consolidating its ranks in the struggle against the kulak remnants in
its organisations

The Forces of the Democratic Front Are Growing Stronger

Thanks to the activity of the Communist Party in stimulating the
national culture and its patient ideological work among the
intelligentsia nearly all prominent representatives of Rumanian culture
have joined the democratic camp. This is an entirely new feature in our
country. However, the job of eradicating the reactionary influence
among the intelligentsia and servility before Anglo-Franco-American
bourgeois culture, is far from finished.

The democratic front is being joined also by the National People’s
Party, the party of the so-called middle strata (handicraftsmen, small
traders and employers, etc.).

The democratic regime in Rumania has successfully solved one of the
most complex problems confronting it, namely the question of relations
between the Rumanian people and the other nationalities inhabiting the
country, and especially relations with the Hungarians, who constitute
the biggest national group in the country (over one and a half million
inhabitants).

The fact that we are steadily carrying out a consistent national
policy inspired by the teachings of Lenin and Stalin, has made the
working people of the other nationalities a loyal and active ally of
Rumanian democracy. This policy has dealt a sharp blow to chauvinist
and revisionist sentiments. We regard the results in the sphere of
national policy as one of the major achievements of our people’s
democracy in its struggle for the moral-political unity of the working
people, and above all, as the outstanding achievement of the Communist
Party.

Thus, the front of Rumanian democracy, headed by the Communist
Party, has won a number of major successes in the struggle against the
forces of reaction, has completely changed the relation of forces in
favour of the democratic camp, has consolidated and reinforced the
political positions of the people’s democracy.

The Economic Foundation of the People’s Democracy

The cardinal task of the democratic forces in the country is to
strengthen decisively the economic base of the people’s democracy.

In June 1947 our Party published its proposals for improving the
economic situation of the country. These proposals were adopted by the
government and became its programme. When carrying out this programme
we succeeded in putting an end to the financial chaos, caused by
inflation, and introduced a monetary reform – the pre-condition for a
healthy economy. Thanks to the measures taken to organise the economy
and thanks to the heroic efforts of the workers, considerable success
has been achieved in the matter of industrial output. On July 1, when
we began work on the six-month production plan, industrial output was
but 48 per cent of the 1938 level. Between July-September output in the
iron and steel industry reached 72 per cent compared to 1938 and 135
per cent compared to 1946; in the chemical industry the figure was 80
per cent compared to 1938 and 118 per cent compared to 1946; in the
timber and building materials industry 67 per cent and 136 per cent
respectively, in the pulp industry and printing trades 78 per cent and
123 per cent. The subsequent months showed a steady upward trend in a
number of the vital industries such as steel, rolled steel, cast iron,
pulp, cellulose, woollen fabrics, footwear, etc. The output of coal is
also increasing. Thanks to a good harvest some branches of the food
industry are topping the target figure.

These achievements brought about a definite improvement in the
economic conditions in our country. However, we cannot be satisfied
with the present rate of industrial output. A number of industries
failed to fulfil their production programme. The present growth of
output does not correspond to the pressing economic needs of the
country, or to the economic tasks raised by the rapid development of
the people’s democracy. In point of fact the present rate of growth is
hampering the planned reorganisation of Rumanian economy.

The situation would be quite different if the efforts of the
government and workers to increase industrial output did not encounter
the resistance of a large section of the capitalists, and if the
democratic state occupied a stronger position in the country’s economy.

The State sector in our economy is still small. The State controls
the National Bank, the railways and a number of enterprises. We have
appointed State administrators to supervise certain enterprises,
especially where the employers are persistently sabotaging economic
restoration. We also have State administrators in the “Astra-Romana”
and “Unirea” oil companies in which foreign capital has shares and in
the “Banca Romanesca”, the biggest private bank in the country, etc.

In addition 14 industrial councils have been set up, uniting the
basic industrial enterprises. As is known in September 1917 Lenin
suggested an amalgamation of industrialists to ensure State control
over the activities of industry and the most effective organisation of
these activities. Lenin declared that the purpose of amalgamation was
to establish complete, detailed and strictest book-keeping, and above
all, to coordinate buying and selling operations in the matter of raw
materials, and to economise with national means. Lenin emphasised that,
in itself, this measure did not in the least affect private property,
did not deprive the proprietor of a single penny. Our industrial
councils are of a somewhat similar nature.

A large part of the industrial and banking enterprises are in the
hands of capitalists. The democratic regime has been most tolerant in
its attitude towards the private employers, who enjoy favourable
conditions for taking part in the economic rehabilitation of the
country. The government will continue to give manufacturers helping to
restore the economy an opportunity to make reasonable profits. However,
despite repeated appeals to “private enterprise” we are compelled to
admit that it has failed us. The capitalists frequently refuse to make
capital investments and install the necessary equipment; they transmit
funds abroad, and organize overt and covert sabotage. Their behaviour
is dictated by narrow class interests and the desire to obstruct
economic restoration and thus prevent the consolidation of the people’s
democracy. A striking example of this is offered by the oil industry –
one of the basic branches of our economy. Oil output is but a mere 59
per cent of the 1938 level. Moreover, in 1947 output fell compared to
1946. The fact that the representative of the “Royal Dutch” and
“Standard Oil” international trusts are vitally interested in
undermining the economy of people’s democratic Rumania, does not
occasion any surprise.

The interests of rehabilitation and the further planned development
of the national economy, and the safe-guarding of our independence
demand that the State sector in national economy be consolidated and
extended.

It is also necessary to put a stop to the profoundly unjust
distribution of the national income, inherited from the former regime.
The monetary reform resulted in a definite redistribution of the
national income in favour of the working people. The financial policy
of the Communist Minister of Finance aims at introducing new changes in
the distribution of national income. Thanks to the policy pursued by
the Tatarescu minister of finance Rumania until recently, was one of
the few countries where the capitalists hardly paid any taxes. Direct
taxes paid by industrialists and merchants comprised only 8-9 per cent
of the total budget revenue. Actually this percentage was even lower.
Thus dodging of tax payments, which was widely practised by the
manufacturers, aggravated inflation.

A month after stringent measures had been imposed by the new
leadership of the Finance Ministry incomes from taxation nearly
doubled. The printing of new paper money to cover budget expenditure
was stopped. Parliament passed a law whereby all persons deliberately
withholding tax payments render themselves liable to be charged as
economic saboteurs. Steps now being taken to introduce a tax reform
will ease the tax burden of the working people at the expense of the
propertied strata of the population. Budget revenue will no longer be
pocketed by shady businessmen. We consider that this clean up in the
financial system will enable us in the near future to establish a
special development fund.

Our achievement in industry and finances, and of course the good
grain harvest, sugar beet, potato and olive crop, will greatly remedy
the material conditions of the working people. But increasing the
productivity of labour, which is still very low, remains the principal
means of raising the standard of living, especially the working class.
The emulation movement in the factories is gaining momentum; a new
attitude toward labour is taking shape on the different construction
jobs where volunteer youth brigades are working. This will improve
labour discipline and achieve a steady increase in the productivity of
labour.

It is difficult in a single article to dwell in detail on the
different measures taken by the government to consolidate the economic
foundations of the people’s democracy in Rumania. We have made a
beginning in building up the State trading sector by opening
State-owned stores. Parallel with this the cooperative sector is being
strengthened by establishing consumers’ cooperatives for workers and
office employees.

Measures have been taken to extend the agricultural cooperatives on
new principles. These cooperatives are to help liquidate gradually the
dominant position of the exploiting elements in the countryside. Apart
from selling agricultural products, from supplying the village with
manufactured goods and improving exchange between town and countryside
the cooperative movement is faced with the prime task of organising
peasants’ producer cooperatives. This will facilitate the mechanisation
of agriculture and hasten the abolition of the economic, technical and
cultural backwardness of the countryside.

Such, briefly, are the measures taken by the democratic government
to consolidate the economic base of the people’s democracy in Rumania.

A second major task confronting the democratic forces in Rumania is
that of consolidating and extending the political base of the people’s
democracy.

Extending the Political Base of the People’s Democracy

A new reform, which will abolish the clearly obsolete administrative
structure, is scheduled for the near future. Organs of people’s power,
democratically elected by the working masses, will be established.
These new local bodies of the people’s power will help to eliminate the
remnants of the old reactionary State apparatus, will help to
consolidate the front of the democratic forces and draw the popular
masses into the administration of the country.

In keeping with the reform of the judicature, which was adopted by
Parliament on the initiative of the Communist Party, the judicial
organs are being fundamentally reorganised. The very composition of
these organs, not to maintain the reactionary legislation had turned
justice into a tool of the exploiting classes. According to the new
reform organs of people’s justice will be set up in the country.
Henceforth, the judicial organs will consist of a judge and two
people’s assessors, elected by the trade unions and other public
organisations, and by general meetings of the peasants. The election of
people’s assessors is already under way in many regions.

Finally, the time has come to give the country a new democratic
constitution, a constitution which will correspond to the changes that
have taken place in Rumania, and which will register our achievements.
This constitution will proclaim that in democratic Rumania the leading
role belongs to people of manual and mental labour, to the working
people of town and countryside. The constitution will show that the
democratic system strives to guarantee the realisation of the rights of
the working people, which is impossible under conditions of capitalist
democracy. The constitution will proclaim the principle of equality of
all citizens, irrespective of sex, race, or nationality. Thus, the new
constitution will be the corner stone for the further development of
our country along the path of people’s democracy.

Advancing Toward New Successes

The working people of Rumania are faced with the tremendous job of
eliminating the economic and cultural backwardness, inherited from the
reactionary regimes of the past. These regimes, acting in the interests
of their imperialist masters, retarded the development of Rumania so as
to make it impossible for her to break loose from economic dependence
on foreign monopoly capital.

The country abounds in natural wealth. The soil is fertile, there
are rich deposits of oil, coal, iron and copper ores and bauxites,
which are only partly exploited. We have enormous sources of electric
power; we are not short of labour. All this makes it possible to secure
the economic independence of Rumania.

Our country can, and shall, advance along the path of the
accelerated development of industry, above all, of heavy industry,
along the path of the further development of agriculture. Our people
realise that their well-being, the prosperity of the country, her
political and economic independence and progress towards a higher plane
of social development depends on overcoming Rumania’s economic
backwardness.

The constructive labour of our people is anathema to the foreign
capitalists, who infuriated are resorting to any and every means in an
attempt to place once again the country under the imperialist yoke.
That is why Rumanian democracy regards the struggle against the
imperialists, against the warmongers as its vital concern. That is why
it is actively participating, together with the other countries of the
people’s democracy in the struggle of the anti-imperialist democratic
camp, headed by the Land of Socialism – the great Soviet Union, whose
friendship and political and economic support is felt daily by our
country.

Nothing will deflect Rumanian democracy, headed by its Communist
vanguard, from the path leading to the liberation of the working people
from the exploitation of man by man, to the future socialist Rumania.